Suu Kyi's party boycotts poll

Loud cheering broke out at a meeting of the leaders of Myanmar's main opposition party after they voted unanimously to boycott an upcoming election that has been widely condemned as unfair and undemocratic.

The decision will further undermine the credibility of the poll.

All 113 delegates at yesterday's gathering of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy agreed not to register the party with the election commission, effectively preventing it from participation in polls that are expected to be held in October.

Speaking from Yangon, senior NLD leader U Win Tin said:

"By not registering under the election laws, it amounts to a boycott. There were one or two people who raised objections, but we were able to return a unanimous decision."

The former political prisoner accepted that the NLD risked being ignored by the junta. But he added:

"The world is looking for this process to be inclusive and for everybody to be involved. It is possible the world will ignore the junta, too."

The NLD's decision had been widely expected ever since Suu Kyi last week said that she believed her party should not take part in the polls because they were unjust.

While she said it was up to the party's central committee to make its own decision, her wishes would have been hugely influential.

The 64-year-old Nobel laureate said the election laws announced by the junta that both prevented her from taking part and forced her party to expel her if it wanted to field candidates, were undemocratic.

It will be some time before the NLD knows whether its gamble pays off. According to the election regulations, those parties deciding not to participate in the polls will not be legally recognised.

Donald Seekins, a Myanmar expert at Japan's Meio University, said:

"They've chosen purity over pragmatism. But they'll no longer be able to enjoy a legal existence as a party, and will have to reconstitute themselves as some sort of civil society organisation - that is, if the regime allows them to.

"It's going to be a real struggle for survival, and Western countries won't be able to help."

Most analysts believe the election, in which 25 per cent of seats are to be reserved for the military, will only cement the position of the junta.

- INDEPENDENT